From the Pole to the Equator

Italian avant-gardists Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi's remarkable feature was on my ten best list last year, and it's good to see it getting another airing in Chicago. It's a film made up exclusively of footage shot by the Italian court photographer Luca Comerio around 1910--tinted, step-printed into slow motion, and accompanied by an effective, wordless sound track. The images, as suggested by the title, come from all over--including African jungles, Indian villages, European landscapes, and polar icebergs--and the overriding theme is photography as imperialism, and imperialism as photography. At once mesmerizing, haunting, and thoughtful, this fascinating and unique compilation, edited by D.A. Pennebaker, stays in the mind for a long time afterward. (Film Center, Art Institute, Columbus Drive at Jackson, Saturday, March 12, 7:45, and Sunday, March 13, 6:00, 443-3737)